Albion face race against time to get pitch ready

Oliver Roby

Tadcaster Albion boss Billy Miller admits the club face a race against time to get Saturday’s FA Vase fixture with Worksop Town on at the i2i Stadium.

With Storm Abigail hitting sporting fixtures hard over the weekend, rain has taken hold of Albion’s pitch which currently sits beneath a ‘fair few inches’ of water, according to Miller, and a proposed home friendly with York City on Tuesday night was postponed due to the weather, but the 45-year-old says the field is in the best possible hands going forward.

“We have an amazing set of fans and volunteers,” Miller told the Wetherby News.

“It will be disappointing if the game is off, but everyone at the club will give us the best possible chance of getting it on.

“We’ve got a good team on the field and that’s matched by the team of people we’ve got off it, so we know they will leave no stone unturned in trying to get the game on.

“The ground is under a fair few inches of water and you can’t get into the car park either at the moment so it’s a little bit frustrating, but we’re confident it won’t be a big problem long term.

“But, if the game does go ahead, it will be a big one.”

The FA Vase first round has drawn together two of the NCEL Premier Division’s big guns with Taddy, in top spot, set to welcome second-placed Worksop, and Miller is relishing the prospect of one of the biggest days in the club’s calendar.

However the Nottinghamshire side sit just two points adrift of Tad on the league ladder, a commanding seven points further ahead of third place, and Miller is fully aware of the task ahead but remains quietly confident of pulling off a double over their title rivals to set up a potential dream cup run.

He said: “The first round of the FA Vase is massive for clubs at our level and it will be a massive day for us.

“We’re obviously on a good run in the league but we’ll have to be at our best if we want to win on Saturday.

“Worksop are a really good side, very good technically, and we turned them over at their place a couple of weeks ago so they’d love nothing more than to knock us out.

“It’s obviously only early days but any cup is always exciting and we’d love to go on and win it. We’re clearly a long way off that stage yet and we haven’t looked that far ahead, but it would be a great reward for everyone who puts their time into the club to win some silverware, and Saturday is where it all starts.”